Videos

Saturday, 25 June 2016

There's a lot of crackling going on this month and this little piece is no exception. I am sharing my second piece for Country View Challenges for our Crackle challenge with this small decorated board.

I recently bought a five frame picture frame and rather than putting photographs in the frames I decided to take out the glass and make five individual pieces using some of my favourite things. Now I will apologise in advance for the very different colours of the photographs. The "making" ones are taken in the craft room and the final pieces are taken in my photography box and there must have been a distinct difference in daylight between the two days!

I covered the board first with gesso and then added some crackle texture paste using my (very) favourite stencil. I then brayered DecoArt Fluid Acrylics Cobalt Turquoise Hue, Raw Sienna and Metallic Gold randomly over the board.

I felt it was a little dark for what I wanted so I then brayered DecoArt Titanium White over the top.

I gathered a few favourite elements and stuck them on to the board.

I gave all the embellishments a light coat of gesso to make them stronger and enable them to blend together before adding a little more Metallic Gold to the buttons and metal.

And here it is in its frame - one down four to go!

If you hopped over here from Country View Challenges to see more, thank you for joining me here on my blog and thank you too to regular followers for always popping in. I really appreciate it.

Friday, 17 June 2016

Despite catching up on some fabulous crafting for scheduled posts while I am away, I finally had the chance to get this month's tag made. As usual I had very little in the way of Tim's supplies - just the tissue paper, so it is a little different!As usual you can find all the details HERE on Tim's blog. I really love the way he has used that wonderful die on his tag and it is on my wish list!

The plain tissue paper was stamped and layered on to my tag. I did give the tag a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Ink before I layered it on with Multi Media to give a bit of colour behind.

And neither did I have a stencil to create the textile look, so I used a stamp instead!

Various different rub ons ....

As you can see I have travel on my mind!

Another great remix - it really is lovely to visit these techniques again but using different stamps and dies.

Monday, 6 June 2016

A little teaser of my project for the Destination Inspiration Challenge over at A Vintage Journey where we have four items in our travel bag to make a project with. To see what they are this month and what I did with them (and the mess I made!) then hop on over to A Vintage Journey.

I am now home for a short while after a fabulous time in Menorca and a blast of a long weekend in London.

But now it is time for another new challenge over at A Vintage Journey with the wonderfully talented Astrid as our host for this months challenge:

Embossing Pastes and Textures

Use any kind of texture paste (home made, crackle, coloured or plain) on your projects. There is an endless variety available, so play, have fun and apply it to your heart's content.

Use it through stencils, randomly or in whatever way you want, but remember it should be in one of the vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journaling, industrial or steampunk styles that we favour.

So put on your mixed media hat and create some magic!

I decided that my project this month would be a small altered frame for our bedroom as it has just been decorated (yes ...... in mainly browns ......) and I have thrown a lot of the old stuff out and wanted to create some vintage pieces for decoration given that our house IS very vintage.

I started with a very cheap wooden frame (I bought a number of these for a workshop which didn't go ahead, so I have plenty to play around with!). I added a couple of coats of gesso before adding crackle paste through one of Tim's new mini stencils. It was just a perfect size for the frame. Once dry I sponged Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Ink here and there.

I knew that not much of the insert would show but as I love this technique I still did the whole insert! The technique is from Tim's November 2015 Tag and I used the Linen Stamp with Antique Linen Distress Ink edged with some Vintage Photo.

Amazingly the Found Relatives Portrait Card sits perfectly in the middle of the frame without any trimming at all. I like to think that these were some of the children who lived here in our house many years ago.

I added a few embellishments in my usual style!

The frame now adorns the dresser in our bedroom.Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you will find time to join us in our challenge and be in with the chance of winning a £20 Voucher from our sponsor this month Country View Crafts.Click the link HERE to wizz over to A Vintage Journey in order to be inspired by my fellow Creative Guides and more details of the challenge and prizes to be won.

Wednesday, 1 June 2016

For my second post of today you will need to brace yourself for colour and messiness - the reason being that over at Our Creative Corner we are asking you to make a mess, not just any mess, but a beautiful mess! Joi is setting the challenge this month and here is what she says:

How about getting messy? Can you do it with me? Can you be free and filthy? Are you brave? I believe YOU can do it .... you can create..... a Beautiful Mess.

Just have FUN and make anything your heart desires, but do it messily! Whether you make a messy looking project or just use "messy" techniques" we want to see every inch of your Beautiful Mess. Bring all those inky splats, paint splashes, marker swipes, watercolour spills and perhaps broken embellishments to our messy challenge and .... enjoy yourself!

Now I certainly made a mess with this but I am not sure it goes anywhere near beautiful!

So here is how my double spread started.

I gessoed the pages and then sprayed Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves and Wilted Violet Distress Spray Stains on the right hand page and when everything was really covered I closed the book to get the ink transferred to the right hand page. Messy ........ believe me it was MESSY beyond belief! I had purple hands for days!

But I must admit that it gave some amazing texture and inkiness to the pages!

I then started lifting out colour with stencils sprayed with water. This was more successful with the circles than the more details stencils.

I then added some ink through a clock stencil and then some text with texture paste.

A little bit of stamping came next ......

...... although at this stage I had no idea how, or even if, I was going to decorate the pages. Messy and absolutely no plan at all ........ potential disaster!

After a bit of thinking I decided to add a few "clean" elements to the mess! The flowers were edged with similar inks to the page but more softly this time.

Other bits and pieces came out of my scrap box.

So yes a bit of a messy discovery! But I actually really enjoyed the process (despite the purple hands!)So ... how about joining us this month and letting your creativity run wild and messy. Hop on over to Our Creative Corner to see what messy makes the rest of the DT have made!Lost Coast Designs and Carmen's Veranda are our sponsors this month the winner receiving a very generous $20 voucher

Well here we are at the start of yet another month! and of course we have a brand new challenge for you over at Country View Challenges. Evelyn is our host this month and she has chosen the theme:

CRACKLE

I have loved the Tim Holtz Village Dwelling die for some time now although I have only really made the houses with my grandchildren. So for a bit of fun I thought I would have some play time with with it myself and made this rather "rickety" blue house.

I have used crackle paste on the outside along with Distress Inks and the Wrinkle Free Technique in various shades of blue.

Frosted windows and a painted roof.

Flowers around the door ....... and elsewhere!

Great fun! and with a little night light flickering inside, extremely homely.

Not as much fun though as making them with little chap!

So lets see you get your crackle on and join us in our challenge this month. Click the link HERE for all the details of the challenge and to see the rest of the Design Team's amazing projects. And look out too for more amazing crackled projects through the month.

About Me

Live the Dream is all about my creative journey which seems to be continually evolving!
My style is shabby vintage mixed media and I am passionate about making my own flower embellishments. I love sharing my work either in tutorials here and on Design Team blogs and also at workshops here in Shetland.
Where will it lead me next I wonder - wherever or whatever I know I am living the dream!